Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

I decided to write this book after teaching a course in technology entrepreneurship to MBA students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the University of Maryland. The class was very popular because it demonstrated how to start a new business that had a high probability of going public or becoming a high growth private enterprise. However, finding something for the classes to read on the topic was a challenge. There was no book that discussed hightechnology entrepreneurship in a way that showed people how to identify a business opportunity to exploit a new technology successfully. As a result, I had to search a wide range of academic articles to find the materials that I needed to explain the key issues identifying an opportunity to start a successful technology company. My interactions with the students, and, in particular, the questions that they asked me about the articles that they read and the lectures that they heard provided the basis for the material in this book. Therefore, I would like to thank all of those students for their intellectual curiosity, which helped me figure out what aspiring technology entrepreneurs really need to know about how to develop an effective business concept for a new technology business.

I would also like to thank all of the scholars and practitioners on whose work I have drawn to provide the framework for this book. While the ideas presented in this book were influenced by many people, several are particularly important: David Audretsch, Amar Bhide, Clay Christiansen, Richard Foster, Alvin Klevorick, Richard Levin, Geoffrey Moore, Richard Nelson, Everett Rogers, David Teece, and Jim Utterback. The books and articles that these people wrote were extremely valuable in helping me to develop the ideas presented in this book.

Over the years, I have had a variety of collaborators who have taught me a great deal about technology entrepreneurship. In particular, Robert Baron, Dan Cable, Frederic Delmar, Jon Eckhardt, Bill Gartner, Ian MacMillan, and S. Venkataraman stand out. Other colleagues have generously given their time to discuss entrepreneurship with me, thereby shaping many of the ideas in this book, including Bob Baum, Terry Blum, Per Davidsson, Brent Goldfarb, David Kirsch, Rudy Lamone, Ed Roberts, Saras Sarasvathy, Scott Stern, Rama Velamuri, and Eric Von Hippel. I would like to thank all of them. This book would not have been possible without the help of these people.

I would also like to thank my editor, Jim Boyd. Not only did Jim believe in the vision that I had of taking ideas developed by academics and thoughtful practitioners and turning them into a practical book to help people become successful technology entrepreneurs, but he was instrumental in shaping that vision. His efforts to help me craft the right type of book, providing enough explanation and examples to educate readers without being too academic, were invaluable.

Last, I would like to thank my wife, Lynne, and daughter, Hannah. Each of them helped me in their own ways. Hannah helped me by being source of joy and inspiration (as well as an excellent playmate when I needed breaks from writing). Lynne helped me by always being willing to discuss my work and give me feedback on it, as well as for encouraging me and supporting me in my efforts to create this book.